Matthew Lillard Reflects on His Journey to Be a Great Actor

Matthew Lillard has been successful the acting crippled for decades, and depending connected erstwhile you grew up, you chiefly cognize him acknowledgment to Hackers, Scream, oregon Scooby-Doo (both live-action and animation). He’s 1 of those stars who seems to beryllium always working, and to perceive him archer it, that’s due to the fact that helium enactment the enactment successful to go a reliable actor.

Business Insider precocious did a spotlight connected Lillard, wherein helium reminisced astir the arc of his career. After breaking retired successful the ’90s, helium became “caught up successful this thrust of trying to beryllium ‘famous,’ and the occurrence of what I was doing.” The captious and fiscal nonaccomplishment of Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed had him reasoning he’d “never enactment again,” and aboriginal an connection to look on Dancing With the Stars, made him recognize helium “really conscionable wanted to beryllium a large actor.” So helium decided to reset his beingness by looking astatine non-acting ventures (like his liquor business) and teaching acting portion taking connected roles that helium ffelt would champion suit him arsenic a performer. When helium wasn’t voicing Shaggy successful Scooby media, helium spent the past decennary successful supporting roles connected Good Girls, Twin Peaks, and Halt and Catch Fire.

But it was past year’s Blumhouse hit Five Nights astatine Freddy’s that’s enactment bigger eyes connected him, peculiarly with younger audiences. Lillard admitted to Business Insider that helium wasn’t wholly definite what to marque of his relation arsenic William Afton astatine first, since the archetypal scripts lone gave him astir “two lines.” He called it a “leap of faith” role, and it was lone aft manager Emma Tammi told him that Afton would beryllium much cardinal successful a planned trilogy that helium truly got the picture. He, on with starring antheral Josh Hutcherson, are some returning for the sequel coming retired successful December 2025.

Beyond that, Lillard volition besides look successful adjacent year’s Life of Chuck from Mike Flanagan. But what about Scream, which has brought backmost surviving characters (and immoderate not) for its newer sequels? He reiterated to Business Insider that he’d beryllium good to instrumentality if the speech arose, and separately told GamesRadar the franchise is successful a “really bully place.” His feelings connected the unit aside—to him, Ghostface shouldn’t person had a shotgun in Scream 6—he said helium hopes manager Kevin Williamson (who wrote the archetypal and fourth movies) takes Scream 7 “in a marque new, brave, and breathtaking absorption truthful that we tin benignant of find antithetic colors and antithetic joys.”

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